When I was a kid, I ate up mysteries. I collected code and cipher books, had an Apple Jacks decoder, read every Sherlock Holmes story I could find and played both Clue and Master Detective Clue (I was always Professor Plum). As a child, it was exciting to solve the whodunit, to role play mysteries with friends and to live vicariously through the great detectives. Other fictional role models included The Three Investigators (the stories had the coolest titles — “The Mystery of the Screaming Clock”) and, I’m a little embarrassed to say, The Bobbsey Twins.

As my friends know, I’m a science-fiction fanatic. With “Star Trek” off the television airwaves, I’ve had to find enjoyment elsewhere. I’ve come to know and love the British series Doctor Who and recently discovered that one of the writers of Doctor Who also created a modern spin on Sherlock Holmes for the BBC.

I’m a little late to the game — I started last week with season two (it airs Sunday nights on PBS’ Masterpiece Mystery!). I watched the first episode of the season and highly recommend it. (Nerdy sci-fi note: the actor who plays Sherlock in the BBC production is also cast in the next “Star Trek” movie. Reports are that he will play Kirk’s (original timeline) nemesis, Khan Noonien Singh).

It got me thinking about the how our profession is like a mystery story. For personal injury lawyers, many cases are about unfolding mysteries. Sure, there are some garden variety automobile accidents, but almost every case brings something interesting to the table. I’ve found defendants through Facebook, surveyed hours of MTV video footage to identify the events surrounding a crowd crush incident and pored through tens of thousands of pages of documents to identify corporate wrongdoing. Particularly in the beginning, when that new phone call comes in and the facts need to be pieced together to determine if something actionable happened. It’s a thrill.

The thing about mysteries is that they are not usually as sexy in real life. Rarely solved through Holmesian deduction, they require methodical plodding and fact-checking. One of the smartest and most effective lawyers I know was an investigative journalism major — his depositions are a wonder to behold. The key in this line of work is to keep pushing, to keep asking questions and to accumulate as much data as possible. That’s how crimes get solved.

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I just finished putting together my materials for the MSBA Annual Meeting. I will be speaking Thursday morning during the conference about how lawyers can use social media effectively and without getting themselves into trouble. My presentation will be part of a broader session that will also include technology tips and online resource pointers. It will be in the morning, but yes, I have been promised that there will be coffee. (Pastries too, I hear.)

My presentation will focus on how social media can be used effectively by lawyers. From blogging to LinkedIn to Facebook and Twitter, social media can help you find new audiences for your work and can put you in control of your professional reputation. There are a few lawyers who have perfected the art of using these social media platforms for professional purposes.  Check out the Connecticut Employment Law Blog, the Ohio Employer’s Law Blog, and The Employer Handbook.

My materials include, among other things, a list of tips on how lawyers can use social media effectively. I think one of the most important is, “don’t be afraid to show your personality.” Tastefully and professionally, of course, and in moderation.

We spend so many of our waking hours thinking about work and do so much of our communication and networking electronically that it is far too easy for us, the online generation of lawyers, to lose who we are as individuals. We may not think about it, but in divorcing our personal lives from our professional lives so completely, we are losing the things that set us apart and that can help us naturally identify with colleagues, potential clients and referral sources.

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Dear Recent Law School Graduate:

I am sorry it has been such a long time since I last wrote, but the life of a lawyer is not easy. It’s been almost two years since I last wrote and a lot of things have changed and a lot of things are the same.

I made partner this year, which has required more (non-billable) work. The kids are getting older: Braden is almost five and Kyan is a rambunctious two-year-old. Some days, Michelle and I battle to a draw with the kids, but for the most part, they are winning the war at home. I’ve even been able to squeeze in a few marathons since I last wrote, most recently one in New Jersey on Sunday.

But enough about me (and the potential discussion on partnership, family planning and work-life balance). Let’s talk about you.

The legal job market is still fairly tough, especially for new lawyers. Firms are looking for attorneys with some experience, but new attorneys can’t get experience without getting a job. It’s our own legal Catch-22.  There have been reports of a comeback, but that is probably of little solace if you are still looking for a job. My advice on the job search remains the same:

When it comes to the economy and available legal employment opportunities, I do not envy you. We all know that it is a tough market out there. Legal jobs are scarce and the competition is brutal, but keep your head up. The toughest legal job to find will be your first one. All you need is one offer.  I remember the stack of rejection letters that sat on my coffee table years ago. I also remember when I got my first offer (thanks Judge Murdock) and the excitement I felt to start my career. It would do a lot of attorneys good if they remembered how hard it was at the beginning. We forget sometimes, as if we never struggled in court or with a client or to find a job.

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I was sitting comfortably on the couch in front of the TV a few weeks ago, adding new contacts to the J. Franklyn Bourne Bar Association‘s email list when suddenly my Mac started moving at a snail’s pace. I didn’t panic — I just simply closed all of my open applications and clicked restart, a process that took an unprecedented five minutes.

Of course, that didn’t resolve the issue, and then it took another 15 minutes for another restart. Something was really wrong but maybe I needed to do a complete shutdown. Nope. A shutdown didn’t fix the problem because it took about 20 minutes to load up. I was in big trouble!

I quickly pulled out my external drive in an attempt to backup. My mind was focused on saving my pictures, my documents, my music, my pictures and my pictures. Once I connected my external drive, I sat back and watched the screen. It indicated that it was “processing” and it “processed” for 30 minutes. By that point I was frustrated and exhausted so I ended the backup, disconnected the external drive and shut the Mac down.

I restarted, waited another 20 minutes for everything to load and plugged in the external drive. I figured since there was a lot of information to backup, it probably needed to run overnight, so I let the Mac do its thing while I was sleeping. I didn’t get much sleep because I was too worried about the situation. I woke up at 5:30 a.m. and found that the backup was still “processing.” That is when my frustration turned into panic. My last backup was Aug. 25, 2011. That wasn’t good.

I had a Carrie Bradshaw moment. If you are fan of “Sex and the City,” you probably remember the episode where Carrie’s laptop died. She hadn’t backed up and lost years of her work. At least I had backed up, but I still felt that I had lost both arms.

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I haven’t seen it yet, but “The Avengers” had the biggest opening weekend ever. Comic book fans have been looking forward to seeing some of their favorite superheroes come to life on the big screen. A couple of lawyer bloggers have found a way to meld their comic book love with their day jobs. The Law and the Multiverse and Superhero Law are blogs written by attorneys that explore the legal issues surrounding characters within the superhero comic book universe.

Take S.H.I.E.L.D. for example, the shadowy government agency that appears to have its nose in a variety of superheroes’ business and in saving the world in general. The organization’s status within international law is explored by the Multiverse, which finds SHIELD is inconsistently depicted as either a U.S. or a United Nations entity. If it’s a U.N. organization then, “every single deployment would require the authorization of the member states, so the potential scope of authority in each engagement is likely to be very limited.”

On the other hand, if SHIELD is an American entity that “clears up a lot of problems, like the question of why it can exist in the first place, and it doesn’t necessarily introduce any new problems that aren’t already in play in the real world.” We’ve got SEAL Team 6 doing what SHIELD does anyway. So, maybe the comic book world isn’t so far-fetched.

In the case of The Incredible Hulk, the Multiverse finds that although Bruce Banner probably wouldn’t have an action against the government for his health problems, “depending on the nature of Banner’s employment, either the Federal Employee Compensation Act, the federal equivalent of workers’ compensation, or the Veterans Affairs Administration would provide compensation for his injuries, as he sustained them while executing his duties as a government employee.” I suppose a similar analysis would apply to Captain America.

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I recently had a case that was settled for much less than the client or I would have wanted. What started out, by all appearances, to be a strong plaintiff’s case unraveled as unexpected evidentiary issues plagued us. To say this outcome was a disappointment would be an understatement. I felt terrible that I was not able to do more for my client.

Yet I took some relief in knowing that I kept my client fully advised throughout my representation, that my client knew that this could be the outcome, and that I did everything I could do to advance my client’s case. I reminded myself that, despite my efforts, we simply cannot win them all.

Oftentimes our clients want us to tell them what the outcome of their case will be. They want to hear that they have got a slam-dunk case and that everything is going to go their way. They believe that, by virtue of retaining a lawyer, they are going to obtain the relief that they seek. They believe that, because they are on the “right side” of the case, justice will prevail.

Yet, lawyers don’t have crystal balls or magic wands. The fate of a case rests with a judge or jury and with what you can prove. Thus, the vast majority of cases settle because the client is able to maintain control of settlement negotiations and the ultimate outcome. Most clients are simply not willing to “roll the dice.”

We have all been before a judge or jury who we thought got it wrong, whether legally or factually. We have all had cases that looked to be an easy win that turn out to be anything but easy.

There is a mantra in the business world to under-promise and over-deliver. Yet, if we under-promise too much, we run the risk of losing the client to an attorney who expresses more optimism about the case. Conversely, if we over-promise, we run the risk of proceeding with a client who has an unrealistic view of the case. This may cause unintended consequences, like a client who will not accept a fair settlement offer and insists on going to trial, certain the million dollar verdict is a foregone conclusion.

So how do we realistically manage our clients’ expectations without losing business? How do we toe the line between being a counselor and being a business person?

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